Nokia patents user interface for 'physically flexible device’

Pressing imaginary buttons on a touchscreen is so 2009. Get ready for rolling up your phone and pretending to drink from a bowl if Nokia’s new patent is to be believed.

Not quite satisfied with the current level of interaction, recent patents published last Thursday (filed in July, 2008) reveal an intriguing new way of booking a table - by bending your phone into a bowl.

The patent is entitled a ‘user interface, device and method for a physically flexible device’ and gives examples of a bowl for restaurants, a can for pubs, and the rather controversial ‘phone-like shape’ that will ‘execute an answering incoming call function’.

Considering how small current devices are, though, it’s hard to imagine how flapping around with the screen will be any easier than pressing a button, but it does at least show that Nokia is hoping to get a leap on its competitors in the future.